It was 9 years ago almost to the date (10/2005) that we sold our Valencia home and have rented since then. We are closing on our house this Friday. After 6 moves 6 rental homes-3 in Valencia- one in a Hope Ranch Santa Barbara pool house, one in the Pine Mountain Club and one in Georgetown TX we are home owners again. I found Piggington after selling our house because I was trying to justify what I did. This was just before the housing crash and I was getting crucified for selling by my wife, kids, in-laws, etc. One of my first posts here I explained what I did and somebody called me a “Contrarian”, I wanted to kick the posters ass because I did not know the meaning of the word. (never said I was smart). Anyway it has been a wild journey and everyone now thinks I am a genius… Sold the Valencia house for $715k-the Zillow estimate today is $462k (purchase was $287k) 23719 Cameron Ct Valencia 91354. Our home that we are buying is in Waco ($185k) in a great neighborhood and is a fixer. I know-it is Waco- and yes it is gritty-but we love it. Watch the opening of the HGTV show Fixer Upper and it is of our neighborhood-Castle Heights. It has been great ride, thanks to all and my apologies to the ones I offended here-there are many. I am out……………Mark Johnson
Although we all have different opinions about how and where to live our lives, I think we can all agree that our time on earth is short–so enjoy–and congratulations!
Well, your decison to buy a (retirement or “forever?”) home in Waco is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t matter what the “perception” (my boots-on-the-ground perception of years ago passing thru . . . or anyone else’s, for that matter) is out there of Waco, TX. It has the wide open spaces that most of San Diego County doesn’t, especially for the price you can buy a home there for with “good bones.” And the biggest a$$ sky the Piggs have ever seen!
Since you posted the above comment, I watched its recruitment videos and was very impressed (loved the architecture). I tried mightily to get my last kid to apply for (public) colleges in “flyover America” (due to a much lower student/teacher ratio and much more individual attention by instructors/counselors) where they had in-state “status” in three states. But alas, they refused and wanted to attend a CSU. That’s fine. Very deep-pocketed donors are ALSO alive and well at CSUs here in Cali and literally make some of the campuses what they are today.
I realize Baylor is private but what an experience! Did your kids graduate from there, desmond?
So are you going to explore the back-roads of Waco,TX?
Anyway, I noticed where your old house was.. interesting history near there. “Castaic Lake”, “Lake Piru”, “Pyramid Lake” and “Quail Lake” are all part of the aqueduct bringing water down from Mono Lake. The aqueduct disappears underground shortly after Quail Lake and basically reappears as “Castaic Lake”. The system is designed to use the energy of the water going downhill to power the system pumping the water uphill. The tunnel through the mountains is not flat.
I tend to like to explore old roads, aqueducts(With SoCalal being largely arid, they are very important to the development that occurred in SoCal)
it would be interesting to see someone who was able to construct a dwelling out of old stock prospectuses, to counter the claim that you cannot live in your stock investments…
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